DUBLIN, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Ireland’s economy grew more than
twice as fast as expected in the third quarter, thanks to
buoyant construction and investment, putting it on a sounder
footing as it emerges from an international bailout.

After becoming the first euro zone member to complete its
rescue programme last week, Ireland is counting on a lift in
construction and consumer spending to spur on its tentative
recovery next year.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Three years after going cap in hand to international lenders, Ireland has officially ended its bailout, providing a landmark for euro zone efforts to resolve its debt crisis, its finance minister said on Friday.

Ireland sought emergency help three years ago to keep its finances under control and has met the terms of the program, cutting spending and raising taxes to bring down its budget deficit and rebalance the economy.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – After a three-year struggle to convince financial markets that Ireland’s economy is back on track, Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s government now has to make the case to an equally tough audience: the Irish people.

A grueling course of austerity has set Ireland up to become the first euro zone country to exit a bailout this weekend but it has cost the government almost a third of its support, raising pressure to boost spending two years before an election.

DUBLIN, Dec 2 (Reuters) – The centralisation of banking
supervision in the euro zone is expected to lead to mergers
among European banks and a stronger reliance on market funding,
European Central Bank Vice-President Vitor Constancio said on
Monday.

Constancio is one of two Executive Board members tasked with
setting up a new banking watchdog under the ECB’s roof, part of
a broader push to more closely integrate the European financial
system to help it weather future crises.

DUBLIN, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Irish unemployment shrank at its
fastest pace in four years in the third quarter, falling below
13 percent for the first time since a property bust and boosting
the government just as it completes its EU-IMF bailout.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, widely seen as
one of the most important measures of the economy, fell to 12.8
percent from a revised 13.6 percent in the second quarter, the
Central Statistics Office said on Tuesday.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s unemployment rate fell sharply in the third quarter to below 13 percent for the first time since a property bust brought the economy to its knees, boosting the government weeks before its EU-IMF bailout ends.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, widely seen as one of the most important measures of the domestic economy, fell to 12.8 percent from a revised 13.6 percent in the second quarter, the Central Statistics Office said.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Australia’s four-try demolition of Ireland shows the team are finally getting the balance right after a string of bad results, coach Ewen McKenzie said after they posted successive victories for the first time in his tenure.

The Wallabies, who suffered three heavy defeats to the All Blacks and two to the Springboks in the southern hemisphere test season and lost to England two weeks ago bounced back with an incisive 32-15 victory in Dublin on Saturday.

DUBLIN, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Australia’s four-try demolition of Ireland shows the team are finally getting the balance right after a string of bad results, coach Ewen McKenzie said after they posted successive victories for the first time in his tenure.

The Wallabies, who suffered three heavy defeats to the All Blacks and two to the Springboks in the southern hemisphere test season and lost to England two weeks ago bounced back with an incisive 32-15 victory in Dublin on Saturday.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland said on Thursday it would make a clean break from its EU/IMF bailout next month, forgoing a precautionary credit line that some of its European partners had wanted it to take.

Its prime minister, Enda Kenny, said it was the right decision at the right time for his country.

DUBLIN/LONDON (Reuters) – When one Ryanair (RYA.I: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shareholder made a stinging attack on Chief Executive Michael O’Leary at the airline’s annual meeting for scaring off customers with his “bullying” and “macho” style, there was one thing he didn’t mention.

That O’Leary’s leaving was one of his biggest fears.

As Ryanair scrambles to reinvent itself and woo customers from higher-cost rivals to fill hundreds of new planes, there are growing concerns about the cost of what O’Leary recently described as his “personal character deformities”.